A carved sacrum from a fossil camelid was found near Tequixquiac in 1870 in Upper Pleistocene deposits of the Valley of Mexico. At that time it was described as one of the first discoveries that proved the co-existence of man with extinct fauna in the New World. The specimen was apparently lost at the end of the 19th century and serious doubts have been expressed about its authenticity. This carved bone was rediscovered in 1956, and recent studies of the specimen tend to demonstrate its authenticity and scientific value. A survey of all known examples of similar finds in North America suggests that the Tequixquiac bone is probably the only example of true art that has yet been found in Paleo-Indian levels in the New World.

A semisubterranean cane and grass house was recently excavated at the site of Chilca on the central coast of Peru. The context in which it was found, as well as its associated radiocarbon date of 5370 ± 120 B.P., indicates that the house was made by early preceramic horticulturists. Seven burials were found inside. The remarkable state of preservation in which the house was found provided sufficient data for a full-scale reconstruction of the structure. This small, conical, beehive-type house is the earliest artificial shelter yet reported from Peru.

Various scholars have considered the problem of Mesoamerican cultural influences in the eastern United States. They agree in general on a Mesoamerican origin for temple mounds. Eastern temple mounds are later than the earliest ones from Mesoamerica and, like them, are characterized by groups of four around a plaza, super-imposed construction, frequent eastward orientation of the principal platform of a group, and capping by a temple structure. The Huastec region of northeastern Mesoamerica seems to show the closest architectural similarities to the southeastern United States. At the same time, authorities do not concur on the origin of funerary mounds, which occur in the Preclassic of Mesoamerica at Aljojuca (Puebla), at La Venta (Tabasco), at Kaminaljuyu (highland Guatemala), and probably at many other sites. Many of these were constructed prior to the earliest burial mound sites in the United States. Since Chard has refuted the hypothesis of Asiatic origin for burial mounds, a Mesoamerican origin seems even more likely. Art motifs diffused along with the mound concept. Both are manifest in art that is considered to be hieratic, which points to possible migration of an elite group. How such diffusion took place remains unanswered, but the possibilities of maritime connections merit consideration. Contacts between Mesoamerica and the eastern United States appear to have been frequent, varied, and early.

This paper analyzes the culture history of the little-known Okhotsk culture and makes suggestions about its relationships with neighboring cultures. The Okhotsk culture is important in understanding the cultural history of the northern Pacific because it shows no affinities with the Ainu and Japanese cultures and has an economy remarkably like that of the more distant Aleut and Eskimo. The Okhotsk culture appears to have historical relationships with cultures in Siberia and Manchuria. The maritime hunting economy of this culture was probably derived from the Eskimo via Bering Sea and the Siberian coast. Other cultural elements, the most noticeable being ceramics, were of mainland origin and served as an influential force in forming Okhotsk culture. Once established on Sakhalin, this culture moved southward along the northeastern coast of Hokkaido, where a secondary and later cultural center developed. Migrations up the Kuriles occurred shortly thereafter. This culture probably flourished for at least a thousand years, beginning in Sakhalin several centuries before Christ and persisting until sometime after A.D. 1000 and possibly until the 17th century in the Kuriles. Several unsolved problems concerning the Okhotsk culture are presented.

An archaeological survey of the areas along the river and the side canyons in upper Grand Canyon led to the location of 18 sites, five isolated and 13 in four clusters. The age of these sites is consistent with others found in the Grand Canyon north of the Colorado River and ranges generally around the period A.D. 1050-1150. It would appear that the occupants of these sites were struggling agriculturalists of the Anasazi pattern who were unable to adjust to this rigorous environment and abandoned the area. Evidence for a more or less continuous use of the Grand Canyon was found in the Little Colorado River Canyon, where the original Hopi sipapu was located. While prehistoric occupation may once have occurred to a minor degree near the mouth of the Little Colorado, its major function has been as a passage-way between the Hopi pueblos and the Hopi salt mine, with an intermediate stop at the sipapu (a geological formation). This paper is one of a series that attempts to outline archaeological developments in the Grand Canyon region.

In 1963 archaeological investigations were conducted by the Arizona State Museum in a series of Hohokam sites on the Gila River Indian Reservation of south-central Arizona. Significant data were derived from two of the eight sites tested. One site, Arizona U:13:9, included two small villages. The earlier village was first occupied during the Snaketown phase, which is estimated to date between A.D. 300 and 500. Occupation continued through the Sacaton phase or until about A.D. 1100. The later village was occupied during two phases of the Classic period, or from A.D. 1100 to about 1450. At this ruin both inhumations and cremations, apparently contemporaneous, were found in a distinct burial zone. The patterning noted in the placement of these two types of burials is a new feature for the Hohokam Classic period. The other site, Arizona U:13:11, a small Soho phase village that was occupied between A.D. 1100 and 1300, is important for the support it adds to the establishment of a pattern of burial placement during the Classic period.

The chronological position of the ancient Koryak culture and its ethnic affinities are discussed here with reference to three important archaeological investigations on the Okhotsk seacoast. In 1958 the Magadan Regional Museum excavated four previously unknown settlements on P'iagina Peninsula in Kip-Kich and Itkilan bays, on Cape Keitevan, and on Varganchik Spit. Several common traits, such as topography, dwelling types, and material elements, make it possible to speak of these settlements in terms of their relative chronological and ethnic positions. The economic base and permanent settlement patterns are generally similar to those of the ancient Eskimos. This similarity is due to influences from other cultures and to convergence. Material objects bear close resemblances to some found in the Punuk stage of the Bering Sea, the Neolithic and early Bronze Age cultures of eastern Siberia, and in the Neolithic of southeastern Asia. This evidence provides a basis for establishing the chronological position of the P'iagina material, which may be placed between the early Bronze Age sites of the Lena Basin and the Punuk stage of Eskimo culture. The settlements have been assigned a place in the Koryak culture complex as a new stage or a local variant. This placement is based upon dwelling types and material complex, for example, blubber lamps.

On the marine terraces of the IAma River on Cape Travianoi a settlement of two dwellings was discovered. The house remains are in the form of elongated knolls. There was good preservaiton of artifacts, which included many household utensils of wood and a few of bone and stone. The material complex shows that the inhabitants utilized metal instruments, and this indicates that the dwellings were constructed at a late date. It is concluded that they are protohistoric but preceding the arrival of the Russians.

The Atargan settlement excavated in 1959 has the largest number of dwellings of those now known on the Okhotsk coast. The report includes a detailed description of a Koryak dwelling structure. Examination of the Atargan excavations indicates that the local Koryak population knew the use of metal before the Russians arrived. Pottery types, bone artifacts, and decorated artifacts are very similar to materials from complexes of the first millennium A.D. in the Bering Sea area.

The material cited in this report introduces evidence which indicates that the diffusion of iron among people dwelling along the Okhotsk seacoast originated from the Yakutia districts, where the remains of the early Iron Age are known, and that during this time the local population of Koryaks was also receiving elements from the Bering Sea tribes of the Punuk stage.

Radiocarbon dates for samples from three buildings at Tikal, Guatemala, the lintel beams of which bear Maya hieroglyphs, are presented. These include dates recently determined at the University of California at Los Angeles and two UCLA and University of Pennsylvania inter-laboratory cross-checks. Two dates from the inner and outer portions of a sapote log have been determined in order to assess the growth rates of the logs from which the temple beams were fashioned and thereby help to explain some of the differences among radiocarbon dates which were previously determined. The dates for samples considered to be reliable continue to support the Goodman-Thompson-Martinez “Correlation B” hypothesis for Temples IV and I, but they also indicate that the previous chronological interpretation of the hieroglyphs of Structure 10 should be revised.

A square, gauze-weave fabric, folded diagonally and ornamented on the two short sides with sewed-on pattern-weave bands, was found by Uhle beneath the Pachacamac temple and is probably the oldest gauze reported from Pachacamac. This unusual, triangular, scarflike cloth, with a style previously reported only from Ancon, indicates the use of still another type of made-up article at Pachacamac and the presence of another style category in this region. It suggests that the variety of sewed-to-form textiles produced in pre-Columbian Peru was greater than has been generally believed.

Radiocarbon dates from caves and shellmounds in central and southern Brazil indicate occupation extending over a 10,000-year period, during which major climatic changes occurred. Correlation of these dates with geologic context of the sites indicates a close agreement with the theoretical climatic fluctuation and changes of sea level proposed by Fairbridge.

It is suggested that the idea of a sedentary pattern of existence diffused into southern Arizona from lower western Mexico or Guatemala by way of the region west of the Sierra Madre. It is also suggested that this transmission occurred shortly after the introduction of a teosinte-infected chapalote corn into the Southwest, a type that was better suited to low, arid regions than the chapalote corn that preceded it. The spread of this sedentary complex from southern Arizona into other areas also is outlined.

Three factors contribute to differences between archaeological samples: sampling error and functional and temporal differences between the parent populations from which the samples are drawn. Many archaeologists have explained such differences as due only to temporal variations between the parent populations, thereby ignoring sampling error and relegating functional specificity to a minor role.

A statistical analysis of potsherd frequencies in samples made by the Chicago Natural History Museum from an eastern Arizona pueblo, the Carter Ranch site, was undertaken using UNIVAC. By taking into account sampling error, differences between parent populations appeared that could most logically be attributed to functional differences. From the calculations, four possible functional constellations of pottery types were discovered, four types of rooms were isolated, a probable ceremonial complex of five pottery types was established, and differential areal disposal of sherds was found. It was impossible to demonstrate temporal differences between provenience units on the basis of sherd frequencies. Any such differences played a minor part in contributing to sample variation as compared to functional differences between provenience units.

Prehistoric human and nonhuman feces from alcoves in the Glen Canyon region of southern Utah are a rich source of pollen and spores. The dominant pollen types (determined in a 200-grain pollen count) vary greatly from sample to sample, making stratigraphic and climatic interpretation very difficult. The record of economic plant pollen appears to reflect the prehistoric Pueblo diet. Cleome, Zea, Cucurbita, and Opuntia are the most abundant economic pollen types. Long-distance transport of pollen from distant montane forests will account for the presence of occasional pollen grains of spruce, fir, and alder in certain samples. The salvage and study of ancient human feces promises to reveal new information about the environment and diet of prehistoric man in the Southwest, a development of interest to both the ecologist and the ethnobotanist.

Slate backs of iron-pyrite mirrors have been found in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru. Three engraved slate disks were recently excavated at two sites in Costa Rica, one at La Fortuna and two at Guácimo. Slate disks in this region are not unusual. Many have traces of the gum that was used for glue, and at least one fragment bears traces of the wooden frame. The significance of these three plaques lies in the designs they bear. These designs indicate that the disks were made between A.D. 435 and 500 in an area remote from lower Central America. Grave objects associated with the mirror backs include reworked jades; gold objects in Coclé, Quimbaya, and Guayas styles; and Incised Zoned Bichrome and Negative Painted Bichrome Incised wares. These disks and the objects associated with them provide insight into pre-Columbian interchange and trade routes in lower Central America, and they suggest that slate disks were important in commerce and perhaps served as ceremonial objects.

Nambe is a Pueblo Indian town whose history is very poorly known. In 1962 arrangements were made to excavate in the village ash piles so that the data might be used in the tribe's land claim. Sherds from the excavations indicate that the people of Nambe have utilized this site from 1350 to the present. By checking surface survey materials against tribal tradition, a history of movements from highlands to lowlands has been out-lined. (1) From 1350 to 1425 there were five villages in a north-south line and two in an east-west line in the high foothills, but the adjoining farm lands were insufficient and in peaceful periods some of the inhabitants of these defensive sites came down to the present Nambe during the summer to farm where water and land were more available. (2) From 1425 to 1550 only one of the high defensive sites continued to be occupied; the others were abandoned, and the people moved down to live in Nambe on a year-round basis. (3) Between 1550 and 1700 the last defensive site was abandoned and Nambe pueblo housed the tribe, but the old lands near the ruins were still used for hunting, gathering, religious shrines, and some farming. (4) The Spaniards found the Nambe area attractive and settled near the pueblo. This began an acculturative process which has involved mixing of blood, loss of Indian lands, and amalgamation of the two cultures. Nambe is now one of the least "native" of the northern Pueblo Indian towns.

An unusual cache of unfired-clay basketry effigies and human figurines was uncovered by a windstorm near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Monument. These specimens and others from nearby archaeological sites demonstrate a more extensive use of sun-dried articles in the Death Valley region than hitherto suspected. The unbaked-clay industry appears to come into the area by way of the Great Basin extension of Anasazi culture around A.D. 900-1100 and to have persisted into the second half of the 19th century.

El Chayal is an extensive obsidian workshop site in an area of major obsidian deposits northeast of Guatemala City. Surface collections include a great number of elongated, unretouched flakes that were probably used as blanks, stemmed projectile points resembling the Wells type, shouldered knives, very large discoidal scrapers, a heavy chopper, bifacial utility implements, and large unretouched blades similar to that found with the Iztapan mammoth in Mexico. Pre-Columbian pottery does not occur. On the basis of this absence, and from a comparison of the artifacts with stone tools from other regions in Mesoamerica, it is believed that the El Chayal industry can be dated to the middle and late Archaic period, roughly from 5000 to 1500 B.C.

A fresh examination of the chronological data of the inscription serves as a framework for analysis of the undeciphered or text glyphs. The undeciphered glyphs have been grouped into categories. The main category, which consists of glyphs related to the up-ended frog glyph, the flat hand, and Thompson's Jog glyph, is interpreted as referring to local history. Another category is composed of glyphs or clauses that are common at other Maya sites and shows ideas not limited to a particular town but common to many of them. Another category of glyphs is restricted to a phenomenon, the Triad, which so far has been identified with certainty only at Palenque. In an appended section definite readings for hitherto floating dates of two other Palenque inscriptions are proposed, and it is suggested that the 819-day count originated at Palenque, from which it spread as far as Copan. These readings may facilitate future glyphic research at Palenque.

The analysis of 975 burials indicates that the inhumations of the Point of Pines region conformed to the flexed Mogollon pattern prior to A.D. 1000. Subsequently, extended burials appeared concurrently with a complex of traits diffused from areas to the north. At the same time, cremation became established as a part of the mortuary complex as a result of contact with Hohokam peoples to the south. Additional evidence of this contact consists of Hohokam material culture items and a ball court. Ceremonial killing of the crematory vessels was extensively practiced and included a new method, notch-killing. The variability of forms and methods of disposal suggests rapidly changing patterns and alternatives in burial practices.

The residue of an archaeological site, which represents a collection of cultural and noncultural materials, provides quantitative information from which some indication of cultural practices and ecological and chronological relationships can be extracted. If quantitative methods of analysis are to be successfully applied to archaeological remains, the archaeologist must either totally excavate a site, recovering all the elements in the residue, or he can devise some system of sampling it. Total excavation is seldom possible or feasible because of limited resources. Consequently, he resorts to the process of sampling, that is, excavating only a portion of the whole site. His field objective is to collect as representative a sample of elements as possible with a minimum expenditure of time, labor, and money. Achieving this objective depends upon following a sampling procedure. Stratified-cluster sampling is a method proposed to achieve this objective. A sampling design of 13 steps is presented to serve as a guide to this method.